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He Works for The Times, Too

DAVID POGUE, the popular technology columnist, is a high-energy, one-man multimedia conglomerate.

In addition to his weekly “State of the Art” column in The Times, and his blog and videos on the newspaper’s Web site, and his weekly e-mail newsletter, he appears regularly on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” CNBC and NPR. He also entertains lecture audiences with satirical ditties on the piano — he once aspired to be a Broadway composer — while informing them about the latest gadgets. You can even take a Geek Cruise to Bermuda with him next spring. Finally, Pogue originated “The Missing Manual” series of help books for the technologically challenged like me, who otherwise would never figure out how to get the most out of something like an iPhone.

His multiple interests and loyalties raise interesting ethical issues in this new age when individual journalists can become brands of their own, stars who seem to transcend the old rules that sharply limited outside activity and demanded an overriding obligation to The Times and its readers.

Two Thursdays ago, two of Pogue’s interests seemed to collide. In his Times column, he gave a glowing review to Snow Leopard, Apple’s new operating system for Macs. At the same time, he was writing a “Missing Manual” on Snow Leopard — two, actually — already available for pre-order on Amazon. If you are now running Leopard on your Mac, Pogue wrote in the review, paying the $30 to replace it with Snow Leopard “is a no-brainer.”

It is no intended knock on Pogue’s integrity — he has panned Apple products and praised those of competitors — to point out that the review put him in the kind of conflict-of-interest situation that The Times regularly calls others to account for: doctors with a financial interest in the drugs they recommend, or a presidential adviser whose clients have a direct interest in certain legislation. In this case, the better Snow Leopard sells, presumably the better Pogue’s “Missing Manual” on how to use it will sell.

I presented the facts to three ethicists: Kelly McBride at the Poynter Institute, a journalism training center in Florida; Bob Steele, a professor at DePauw University and a scholar at Poynter; and Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. All agreed that Pogue and The Times were facing a clear conflict of interest.

They didn’t necessarily agree on how to resolve it. McBride said the paper should not deprive readers of Pogue’s expertise, but she and Ward said there should be rigorous oversight and full disclosure to readers about his interests. Steele said disclosure doesn’t make the problem go away, and it would be better if Pogue did not review products for which he has written manuals.

All agreed that The Times and other news organizations are going to face more of these situations as journalists worried about the economic health of their employers seek outside sources of income and as the companies turn to independent contractors, like Pogue, for more of their content.

Pogue is by no means the only Times writer with other interests. Thomas Friedman commands $75,000 for a speech, and his books are blockbusters. Another Op-Ed columnist, Frank Rich, is a consultant helping HBO develop new programming. A. O. Scott, the film critic, is about to become co-host of “At the Movies,” produced by ABC Media Productions. Mark Bittman, The Minimalist, an independent contractor like Pogue, writes cookbooks and appears on PBS. John Harwood, who writes from Washington, is CNBC’s chief Washington correspondent.

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In another era, many of these activities would have been frowned on as diluting the Times brand and draining energy from the paper. Now, with what seems a mixture of resignation and sensed opportunity, editors say The Times can be enhanced by all the outside activity. “We see their exposure in a quality venue as good promotion of The Times,” said Bill Keller, the executive editor.

But it creates tricky ethical terrain. No Times journalist is in quite the same position as Pogue — reviewing products and simultaneously writing guides to them. He said he makes more money from the books than from The Times.

Pogue and his editors said they talk frequently about how to deal with his varied interests, and the editors praised him as a straight shooter who has developed a large following precisely because of his honest assessments of hardware and software. Pogue said the conflict in his case was “kind of an imaginative cause and effect. I can’t imagine someone saying: ‘This is a good product. I’ll buy the reviewer’s book.’ ” He pointed out that he savaged Apple’s iMovie ’08 in his Times blog, even as he was writing a “Missing Manual” for it.

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Keller said that for Pogue and others like him, “their jobs at The Times and their other revenue streams are dependent on their credibility. If they do anything that undermines or diminishes their credibility, they lose everything.” But, as the paper’s ethics guidelines stress repeatedly, appearances count, and Pogue has taken an occasional drubbing on the Internet over his conflict.

When the paper signed Pogue in 2000, said William Schmidt, a deputy managing editor, it allowed him to continue the “Missing Manuals.” Editors anticipated that the books would be mainly about software and that Pogue would be reviewing hardware, but that distinction disappeared. Editors also may not have realized how quickly the manuals would be produced after the introduction of a new product, Schmidt said.

Craig Whitney, the standards editor, said Pogue and The Times “have tried to manage the conflict of interest, and I think successfully, but I acknowledge that it still exists. Could we do something more to minimize it? I would say yes.”

Last Thursday, The Times did. Larry Ingrassia, the business editor, said that, prompted by my questions, editors decided to make disclosures to readers regarding Pogue’s outside activities. On his Times Topics page online, Pogue posted a statement of ethics, saying manufacturers have no involvement in his manuals and that from now on, if he is writing a book about a product he is reviewing, he will disclose it to readers. It says his personal investments are in a blind trust to avoid any question of reviewing products in which he has a direct financial interest. A disclosure was appended to the Snow Leopard column online.

These seem like the right steps. No option was easy. The old-school way — telling Pogue to give up the manuals or take a hike — was not realistic. Telling him he could not review products for which he has written a manual would, as McBride said, deny readers his expertise.

It was good that The Times addressed the issue now. Windows 7 is being released within a month. Pogue is planning to review it. The “Missing Manual” is already for sale.

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A reader’s letter last week referred to Walter Cronkite’s error-filled obituary. But it was an appraisal, not the obituary, that was filled with mistakes.

The public editor can be reached by e-mail: public@nytimes.com.

A version of this op-ed appears in print on , on Page WK8 of the New York edition with the headline: He Works for The Times, Too. Today's Paper|Subscribe